Gary Neville On Loris Karius “It’s Not A Criticism, It’s An Observation In My Job”

The Gary Neville vs Loris Karius saga is yet to die down, as the Sky Sports Pundit made an appearance on The Sunday Supplement to justify his comments over Liverpool’s summer signing Loris Karius.

Neville, now 41, criticised Karius after mistakes against Bournemouth and West Ham and Karius responded, mocking Gary Neville’s management career. But Neville insists his comments over the German shot-stopper were only an ‘observation in his job’.

Neville said:

“It became a big story because the player, coach and Liverpool added fuel to a fire that wasn’t there.

“Two weeks ago my most critical comments were about a United and an Everton player. No one will remember what my comment were because United and Everton never reacted to it, the players never reacted to it and they were forgotten about.

“I called Fellaini pathetic and idiotic and I battered Stekelenburg for his part in Ibrahimovic’s goal. I said Karius transmits anxiety and nervousness to his team-mates.

“The other two stores have disappeared to the point at which no one can remember them, that’s how I would expect press departments of football clubs to deal with these things.

“When Karius did his newspaper interview I knew he would be out of the team in a few days, I knew he brought pressure on himself.

“Young players should always do interviews and me saying, ‘stay clear of the situation’ – my advice to Karius after doing the interview he did – and Phil Neville and Jamie Carragher telling him to stay quiet, as ex-players, we were more guiding him saying, ‘this is not a fight for now.’

“I was critical of David De Gea 4/5 years and he has gone on to grow out of it. He (Karius) transmits nerves to his teammates and the fans around the stadium. That statement was correct at that moment. He didn’t need to (respond).

“The ‘shut your gob’ is not meant to say ‘oh, don’t do interviews’. Players should always do interviews. The advice of ‘shut your gob’ was don’t fight now. Fight at the end of the season when you’ve got a Premier League medal on your neck’.

“From our point of view as pundits though, we did our job, we created the debate.”